nounDate: 15941. the act or process of inferring: as
a. the act of passing from one proposition, statement, or judgment considered as true to another whose truth is believed to follow from that of the former
b. the act of passing from statistical sample data to generalizations (as of the value of population parameters) usually with calculated degrees of certainty
2. something that is inferred; especially a proposition arrived at by inference
3. the premises and conclusion of a process of inferring

Look at other dictionaries:

Inference — is the act or process of deriving a conclusion based solely on what one already knows. Inference is studied within several different fields. * Human inference (i.e. how humans draw conclusions) is traditionally studied within the field of… … Wikipedia

inference — in·fer·ence / in fə rəns/ n 1: the act or process of inferring; specif: the act of passing from one proposition, statement, or judgment considered as true to another whose truth is believed to follow logically from that of the former 2: something … Law dictionary

Inference — In fer*ence, n. [From {Infer}.] [1913 Webster] 1. The act or process of inferring by deduction or induction. [1913 Webster] Though it may chance to be right in the conclusions, it is yet unjust and mistaken in the method of inference. Glanvill.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

inference — 1 deduction, conclusion, judgment (see under INFER) 2 Inference, ratiocination denote the process of arriving at conclusions from data or premises. Inference often connotes guesswork based on trivial or inadequate data or premises; in technical… … New Dictionary of Synonyms